Winder traverse for filamentary material

ABSTRACT

An elongated tubular housing has axially spaced open ends and accommodates in its interior a rotatable cylindrical cam. A removable closure closes one of the open ends and a pivot arrangement engages the housing in the region of the other open end so that the housing can pivot about an axis which is offset from but parallels the longitudinal axis of the housing. A motor is arranged adjacent the other open end and its output shaft is coupled by a disengageable coupling arrangement with the cam which it rotates.

United States Patent 1191 [11] 3,817,465 Miller June 18, 1974 WINDERTRAVERSE FOR FILAMENTARY 3,042,324 7/1962 Kinney 242/18 DD MATERIAL3,073,537 1/1963 Mackie 242/43 X 3,074,286 1/1963 Altice et al. 242/43UX Inventor: Harry p l ,M 3,265,315 8/1966 Mueller 242/43 x 3,401,8949/1968 Campbell, Jr 242/43 [73] Asslgnee. Industrle-Werke Karlsruhe gs gAG, a u Germany 3,690,579 9/1972 Porter et a1 242/43 [22] Filed: Nov. 6,1972 Primary Examiner-Stanley Gilreath pp NO: 304,255 Attorney, Agent,or FzrmMlchael S. Strlker Related US. Application Data [5 ABSTRACT [63]Continuation-impart 6f Ser. N0. 262,973, June l5, An elongated tubularhousing has axially spaced open 1972. 1 ends and accommodates in itsinterior a rotatable cyl 1 lindrical cam. A removable closure closes oneof the [52] US. Cl. 242/43, 242/18 DD open ends and a pivot arrangementengages the hous- [51] Int. CI...... B65h 54/28 ing in the region of theother open end so that the [58] Field of Search 242/43, 43.1, 43.2, 158,housing can pivot. about an axis which is offset from 1 242/ 15813,158.5, 18 DD but parallels the longitudinal axis of the housing. A motoris arranged adjacent the other open end and its [56] References Citedoutput shaft is coupled by a disengageable coupling UNITED STATESPATENTS arrangement with the cam which it rotates. 2,328,344 8/1943Jones 242/43 x 7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures I 3 {7 2 a 7 l 5 5 /23 a* 25.:z- 3Q I ll-.. 2 L l a, i Y\ V5 /0 M A? F 5 Irr 24 23 /9 NilPA'TENTEDJIm we ran WINDER TRAVERSE FOR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL BACKGROUNDOF THE INVENTION The present invention is a continuation-in-part of mycopending application Ser. No. 262,973, filed June 15, 1972.

- This invention relates generally to a traverse arrangement forfilamentary material, and in particular to a winder traverse for suchfilamentary material.

Many types of winders for filamentary material, such as mono-filaments,threads, yarns and the like, are already known. The basic operation ofall these winders is the same, namely they wind filamentary materialonto a bobbin or core tube which is rotated for this purpose. Of course,in order to evenly distribute the layers of the filamentary material onthe core tube,-the filamentary material must be moved axially to and froover the tube, that is it must be traversed along the tube. If this werenot done, a thickness of a number of layers of filamentary materialwould build up at one point of the tube and the remainder of the axiallength of the tube would not be covered with the material. Even if thetube were subsequently shifted so that it would be covered in thismanner incrementally, it is clear that there would be no evendevelopment of the filament package on the tube, and that in subsequentuse of the thus-produced bobbin, for instance in automatic machinesutilizing such bobbins, the operation (that is the withdrawal of thefilament from the bobbin) would be uneven.

The traversing of the filament along the bobbin tube is effected by awinder traverse, that is an arrangement which receives the filament fromwhatever source is provided, and which moves axially to-and-fro alongthe bobbin tube, to thereby guide the filament so that it is bound aboutthe bobbin tube in an essentially helical path. However, the prior-artwinder traverse arrangements have certain disadvantages. The traversearrangements have a tubular housing provided with an axially extendingslot in its circumferential wall, and in the interior of the housingthere is a cylindrical cam mounted for rotation, the cam having a guidetrack along which a finger which is journalledin the slot, is guided.Thus, the finger performs an alternate axial toand-fro movement in theslot, as its inner portion slides in the guide track of the rotary cam.The difficulty with all these winder traverse arrangements is that quitefrequently the filamentary material will for one reason or another beable to enter through the slot into the interior of the housing, andwill then wind around the rotary cam. At the speed at which yarn moveswhich is being wound onto a bobbin tube or core, sufficient yarn willbecome wound about the rotating cam within a very brief. period of timeto preventfurther rotation of the cam so that the traverse arrangementmust be shut down. Evidently, having to shut down the machine shuttingdown of the traverse arrangement necessitates shutting down of theremaining components of the machine with which the traverse isassociated is very expensive, because these are high-speed machines inwhich even brief down-time means a considerable production loss. Oncethe machine is shut down, the cam must be removed from the tubularhousing of the traverse, to clear it of the filamentary material whichhas become wound about it. This, however, is difficult to achieve inknown traverse arrangements, and is therefore time-consuming and, in thefinal analysis, expensive because the more time spent on removing andclearing the cam, the longer will be the down-time of the entiremachine.

Another problem with the prior-art arrangements is that sometimes atleast filament will become wrapped around the drive roll to which thetraverse arrangement supplies the filament, and which drive roll drivesthe filament package on the bobbin tube which in turn is mounted forrotation on a winder chuck. if this occurs, the increase in the diameterof the drive roll exerts a pressure upon the tubular housingin directiontransversely to the longitudinal axis of the latter. Because inconventional winders both the housing of the traverse arrangement andthe drive roll are mounted for rotation about fixed axes, the result isthat a very significant pressure builds up which, as neither the driveroll nor the housing of the traverse arrangement can yield, becomesexcessive, especially in the case of long cantilevered drive rolls, andmay result in damage to or the destruction of drive roll or traversearrangement bearings or other components.

Still another disadvantage of the prior art is the fact that the motorwhich drives the cam in the housing of the traverse is usually locatedoff to one side of the axis of rotation of the cam, making it difiicultto disengage the cam from the motor if and when necessary, and exertinga substantial additional load on the bearings. This is particularlydisadvantageous if the winder traverse arrangement, or rather thehousing with the cam, is cantilevered so that it extends from one sideof a support whereas the motor is also located on this one side,

with the resulting disadvantageous load distribution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a general object of the present inventionto overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

' An additional object of the invention is to provide such an improvedwinder traverse in which the drive motor for the cam is so located as toobtain an advantageous load distribution and to reduce the load on thevarious bearings.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved windertraverse in which the development of pressure acting transversely of theelongation of the tubular housing is prevented from causing damage toany component of the winder traverse or of machine elements associatedtherewith.

In keeping with these objects, and others which will become apparenthereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a winder traverse forfilamentary material which, briefly stated, comprises an elongatedtubular housing having axially spaced open ends, and a cylindrical cammounted in this housing for rotation relative thereto. Removableclosuremeans closes one of the open ends and pivot means mounts the housing inthe region of the other open end for pivotal movement about an axiswhich is offset from but parallels the iongitudinal axis of the housing.Motor means is located adjacent the other open end and has an outputshaft, and disengageable coupling means releasably couples the outputshaft with the cam for rotating the latter.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an axial section illustratinga winder traverse according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1, looking towards the right.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 it will be seen that referencenumeral 1 identifies an elongated tubular housing having axially spacedopen ends. The housing is provided in its circumferential wall with anon-illustrated axially extending slot through which a similarlynon-illustrated guide finger for guiding the filamentary material, canextend into the interior of the housing where it is guided in theillustrated cam tracks of a cylindrical cam 2 which is mounted in thehousing for rotation relative thereto. Reference numeral 3 identifies amotor mount which is itself pivotable relative to a stationary support21, such as a machine frame or the like; motor mount 3 carries thediagrammatically illustrated drive motor 24 having the rotary outputshaft 25. Secured to the housing 1 in the region of the righthand openend thereof is a tubular mount 5 into which extends a cylindrical pivot9 the right-hand end of which is connected by the bolt or pin 19 to theframe 21. The pivot 9 is provided in its outer peripheral surface with agroove 22 which may entirely encircle its circumference or may extendover only a part of its circumference, and a bolt or screw 23 isthreaded through a tapped opening provided in the wall of the tubularmount 5 so that its inner end extends into the groove 22, thuspermitting relative pivotal displacement of the mount 5 with referenceto the pivot 9, but preventing axial displacement until and unless thebolt 23 is removed. A mounting plate 10 is interposed between thetubular mount 5 and the housing 1, and the mount 5 and housing 1 areconnected fixedly with one another by means of bolts or screws 20extending through their respective circumferential walls and theinterposed plate 10.

The cam 2 is mounted for rotation in the housing 1, and for this purposeis journalled at its opposite axial ends. At the right-hand axial end itis journalled by a bearing which is accommodated in a bearing housing15a which prevents it from sliding towards the right in axial directionbut which permits it to slide towards the left in axial direction of thehosuing 1, under the condition that the cam 2 is withdrawn to the left.The left-hand axial end of the cam 2 is journalled by a hearing 18 whichis seated on a projection 13a of a removable closure element 13, thelatter being held on the housing 1 by the removable screws 14. Thus, ifit is necessary to gain access to the cylindrical cam, for instance toclear the same of filamentary material which may have become wound aboutit, it is simply necesary to remove the screws 14 and withdraw theclosure element 13, whereupon the cam 2 can be withdrawn through theleft-hand open end (see FIG. '1) of the housing 1. In so doing, thebearing 15 will also slide axially towards the left-hand open end andcan be withdrawn therefrom.

When the cam 2 is in place, as shown in FIG. 1, it is driven by theoutput shaft 25 of the motor 24, for which purpose the output shaft 25carries one section of a disengageable coupling, the other section 12bof which is mounted on the shaft of the cam 2. The sections 12a and 12bcan interengage in any known manner, for instance by means of claws orthe like, and will become disengaged when the cam 2 is moved towards theleft in FIG. 1. The section 12b is fixedly mounted by means of a screw11 or analogous devices, on the shaft of the cam 2, and the section 12ais similarly fixedly mounted on the output shaft 25 of the motor 24.

The novel winder traverse also is provided with an adjustable traversebox locator and detent. There is provided a set screw 8 which adjuststhe distance of the traverse TG to the drive roll D, so as to permitselection of the optimum operating distance. The entire housing and campivot about the pivot 9, as previously indicated. If, now, wrapping offilamentary material about the drive roll D occurs, this can build up ina matter of seconds to a considerable thickness of filamentary materialon the drive roll D, increasing the diameter thereof to the point wherethe filamentary material on the drive roll will exert very strongpressure in transverse direction upon the housing. As pointed outearlier, in the prior-art constructions this can cause damage ordestruction of bearings and other components. In the present windertraverse, however, no such damage will occur because the transversepressure which is exerted upon the housing 1 acts upon the same from thedrive roll D via the plate 16 of the traverse T, with the plate 16exerting such transverse pressure upon the housing 1. The housing 1 isheld in place against pivotal movement about the pivot 9 by aspring-loaded detent member 6 which is mounted in one arm of an anglebracket 4, in the upper arm of which the set screw 8 may be mounted. Theinclined lower end face of the detent member 6 cooperates with theinclined end faces of an abutment 7 and under normal operatingconditions the force exerted by the biasing means acting upon the detent6 is sufficient to prevent pivoting of the arrangement about the axis ofthe pivot 9. However, when the pressure exerted in transverse directionupon the housing 1 builds up to a sufficient level, it will overcome thebiasing action'of the biasing means acting on the detent 6, causing thedetent 6 to retract (move upwardly in FIG. 2) so that the abutment 7will clear its inclined end face. Actually, it should be noted that thefree end face of the abutment 7 has two mutually inclined surfaceportions, one of which is engaged by the detent 6 when the arrangementis in the normal operating position as shown in FIG. 2. If, however, thedetent 6 is forced to retract then it will exert pressure upon the otherinclined face of the abutment 7, thereby causing the entire arrangementto be forced away (in clockwise direction in FIG. 2) from the drive rollD by pivoting about the pivot 9. Thus, the danger of damage to thebearings or other components is avoided, at least in most instances. Thearrangement can also be provided with a suitable switch, relay or thelike which, when the housing 1 pivots about the pivot 9, will becomeactivated and will trigger a circuit which switches off the drive forthe winder to thereby permit clearing of the filament wrapped about thedrive roller.

Reference numeral 17 designates a connection by means of which accessmay be had to the interior of the cam 2, for instance for introductionof a fluid if necessary.

The provision of the motor 24 to be pivotable on the stationary support21 for the winder traverse, and the in-line positioning of the motorwith respect to cam 2, provides not only for a simple and economicalconstruction, but also assures that the cantilevered housing 1 and cam 2are counterbalanced, at least to some extent, thereby removingconsiderable strain from the bearing for the pivot 9. Also, the motorwill of course under these circumstances always be in line with the cam,irrrspective of their positions and movement, for instance about thepivot 9.,

It will thus be seen that the construction according to the presentinvention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and provides forav substantial improvement in this field.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in awinder traverse for filamentary material, it is not intended to belimited to the details shown, since various modifications and structuralchanges may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of thepresent invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constituted essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letter Patent is:

l. A winder traverse for filamentary material which is to be wound ontoa bobbin that is surface-driven by a drive roll rotating closelyproximal to and in axial parallelism with the bobbin and the traverse,comprising an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends;a cylindrical cam mounted in said housing for rotation relative thereto;removable closure means closing one of said open ends; motor meansadjacent the other open end and having an output shaft; disengageablecoupling means releasably coupling said output shaft with said cam forrotating the latter; and pivot means mounting said housing in the regionof said other open end for pivotal movement about an axis offset frombut paralleling the longitudinal axis of said housing, so that saidtraverse may pivot about said axis away from the drive roll in the eventthe traverse is subjected to pressure acting transversely of saidlongitudinal axis and resulting from an increase in the diameter of saiddrive roll due to undesired wrapping of filamentary material about thesame.

2. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1, wherein said output shaft isin axial alignment with the axis of rotation of said cam. 3. Awindertraverse as defined in claim 1; further comprising first andsecond bearing means provided in said housing and journalling oppositeends of said cam for rotation of the latter.

4. A winder traverse as defined in claim 3, said first bearing meansbeing carried by said closure means, and said second bearing means beingmounted in said housing in the region of said other open end and formovement axially of said housing towards said one open end in responseto withdrawal of said cam through the same.

5. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprising astationary support with reference to which said motor means is pivotallymounted.

6. A winder traverse as defined in claim 5, said pivot means comprisinga tubular element fixed to and coaxial with said housing, and an atleast substantially cylindrical pivot received in said tubular elementand having an exposed end fixedly connected to said support, so thatsaid tubular element is free to turn about said pivot.

7. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprisingbiased detent means normally preventing said housing from said pivotalmovement, but permitting such movement in response to development of apredetermined magnitude of said pressure acting transversely to saidlongitudinal axis.

1. A winder traverse for filamentary material which is to be wound ontoa bobbin that is surface-driven by a drive roll rotating closelyproximal to and in axial parallelism with the bobbin and the traverse,comprising an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends;a cylindrical cam mounted in said housing for rotation relative thereto;removable closure means closing one of said open ends; motor meansadjacent the other open end and having an output shaft; disengageablecoupling means releasably coupling said output shaft with said cam forrotating the latter; and pivot means mounting said housing in the regionof said other open end for pivotal movement about an axis offset frombut paralleling the longitudinal axis of said housing, so that saidtraverse may pivot about said axis away from the drive roll in the eventthe traverse is subjected to pressure acting transversely of saidlongitudinal axis and resulting from an increase in the diameter of saiddrive roll due to undesired wrapping of filamentary material about thesame.
 2. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1, wherein said outputshaft is in axial alignment with the axis of rotation of said cam.
 3. Awinder traverse as defined in claim 1; further comprising first andsecond bearing means provided in said housing and journalling oppositeends of said cam for rotation of the latter.
 4. A winder traverse asdefined in claim 3, said first bearing means being carried by saidclosure means, and said second bearing means being mounted in saidhousing in the region of said other open end and for movement axially ofsaid housing towards said one open end in response to withdrawal of saidcam through the same.
 5. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; andfurther comprising a stationary support with reference to which saidmotor means is pivotally mounted.
 6. A winder traverse as defined inclaim 5, said pivot means comprising a tubular element fixed to andcoaxial with said housing, and an at least substantially cylindricalpivot received in said tubular element and having an exposed end fixedlyconnected to said support, so that said tubular element is free to turnabout said pivot.
 7. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; andfurther comprising biased detent means normally preventing said housingfrom said pivotal movement, but permitting such movement in response todevelopment of a predetermined magnitude of said pressure actingtransversely to said longitudinal axis.